Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ross asked for forecasts which we do not provide. I indicated in my reply that we investigated the potential of sectors such as manufacturing, where we have identified potential for creating 20,000 jobs, and we are putting polices in place to realise that potential. In the financial sector, we have developed a five year plan to create up to 10,000 jobs in international financial services. Food presents a clear opportunity in this regard. Harvest 2020 aims to develop the agriculture sector and my Department has recently announced plans by Glanbia and Kerry Group to invest significantly in anticipation of greater output. We have also closely examined the potential of ICT, a sector in which a significant proportion of IDA jobs - 13,000 per year - are being created. We have identified opportunities in cloud computing and big data. In the digital games sector, a potential 2,500 jobs have been identified. We are investigating subsectors in which opportunities have been identified with a view to developing policies to deliver on these opportunities. That is the approach we take because it is not as exact a science as forecasting X number of jobs in manufacturing in 2014.

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